OCZ PC2-8800 (1100MHz) Gold Edition Memory Review

Overclocking

Overclocking the OCZ PC2-8800 Gold Modules was a a pretty simple task. We have done a couple overclocking articles on our AMD A64 X2 4200+ AM2 processor before (part 1 & part 2) and have taken the Corsair DOMINATOR PC2-8888 modules (overclocking results) to 1219.4MHz with 100% stability so we know where our processor tops out at with certainty. We started overclocking the modules using the default settings and increased the HyperTransport bus speed to increase the frequency on the memory until it started throwing errors on the RST Pro 2 memory tester.

With default timings and voltages we were able to overclock the modules from 1100MHz to 1140.8MHz before the RST Pro 2 started detecting errors.

We then lowered the timings from 5-6-6-15 to 4-4-4-12 and found that it was not stable at 1100MHz with the suggested voltage of 2.4V. We then tried increasing the voltage to hit 1111MHz at C4 timings, which is what Corsair’s DOMINATOR PC2-8888C4 modules operate at.

We were able to hit the mark and reached 1107MHz (278MHz HTT) with the help of additional voltage (2.55V)before errors started to appear again. We were able to overclock the memory to it’s limits this time around and were happy with the results. It was interesting to note that OCZ has the Row Cycle Time (Trc) SPD set to 22, which is lower than the other modules we have seen at these speeds. The Corsair modules are set to 23, so those serious about overclocking and know their BIOS might want to play around with some of the other SPD settings to reach better numbers.

Overclocked Performance:

To see how the memory does when overclocked we ran them overclocked at CL4 timings against the Corsair PC2-8888C4 memory kit.

In Sandra we noted a performance jump when moving to the lower timings, but it wasn’t enough to beat out the Corsair modules.

In Sciencemark it was the other way around as the overclocked OCZ PC2-8800 modules were about 20MB/Sec faster.

In Everest 2006 v3.01 the tighter timings helps the OCZ modules pass up the Corsair DOMINATOR kit thanks to the 500MB/Sec increase when we overclocked them.

When it comes to gaming tight timings have proven the way to go for years and the same holds true today. In Serious Sam 2 v2.070 the OCZ modules gained four frames per second thanks to the tighter timings and slightly faster processor speed.

Since the OCZ PC2-8800 Gold and Corsair XMS2 DOMINATOR PC2-8888C4 modules use the same IC’s they perform roughly the same when set at the same timings and frequency as you can see from our testing above.